Investigators from the Kennedy Krieger Institute (KKI), the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine (IGM) and The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) utilize the Genetics Core of the MRDDRC (MRDD-GC) as a resource in their efforts to better understand the role of genetic factors associated with normal and abnormal physical, cognitive and/or behavioral development. The MRDD-GC has been part of the MRDDRC since its inception in 1988. Since that time developments in the fields of genetics and molecular biology have occurred that have literally revolutionized the biomedical research enterprise. Most visibly, the Human Genome Project had not yet started in 1988, and its findings, as well as the technoligies that have emerged for conducting genome-wide studies, have had immense impacts. As the following Core description will illustrate, our capabilities and programs of supported reseach have kept abreast of these developments, and we have maintained state-of-the-science facilities and expertise throughout these recent decades of rapid scientific advances and technological achievements.